Music: {allcanada} A missed opportunity for Leclaire

Sunday, October 3, 2010

{allcanada} A missed opportunity for Leclaire

Pascal Leclaire (notes) had the perfect opportunity Saturday to put a stamp on the Ottawa Senators' No. 1 goaltending job.

Instead, he just created more uncertainty with another shaky performance in the Senators' wild and wacky 8-5 victory over the New York Rangers at Scotiabank Place to conclude the exhibition schedule.

Thanks to Leclaire's performance, the rare accomplishment of hat tricks by both Zack Smith (notes) and Chris Kelly (notes) faded into the background.

Rest assured, the three main topics of conversation from now until the start of the regular season Friday against the Buffalo Sabres are goaltending, goaltending and goaltending.

Based on the numbers and in all-around confidence in the net, the Senators' best goaltender during training camp was neither Leclaire nor Brian Elliott (notes). It was, in fact, 19-year-old Robin Lehner (notes), who was shipped to Binghamton of the American Hockey League late Saturday for more development as a professional.

But if Leclaire and Elliott continue to bobble the puck and allow weak goals like they have in the preseason, the organization may have little choice but to rush him into the NHL. Leclaire allowed 13 goals in his three exhibition games. On Saturday, he allowed five goals on 30 shots.

"I know I did some bad things," said Leclaire. "You have to forget about it and focus on tomorrow."

Leclaire says he doesn't keep track of his statistics in the preseason.

"The first couple of games, I thought I was solid, but tonight wasn't as good, but it's preseason. At least it happens tonight."

Leclaire also didn't want to get caught up in trying to figure out whether Saturday's performance will hurt his chances of starting the season as No. 1 ahead of Elliott.

"It's out of my hands," he said. "It's done, it's done. We'll see what happens. The most important thing is to get ready for the season and have a good week of practice."

Senators coach Cory Clouston didn't skate away from criticizing his goaltender and general manager Bryan Murray didn't want to talk about it.

"He struggled a lot, early," Clouston said. "I thought, though, in the third period was his best hockey and it was definitely something to build on."

DVDs from the game won't be shipped off to the goaltending Hall of Fame as Rangers netminder Martin Biron (notes) allowed some ugly ones, too. Biron, however, figures to play only sparingly as a back-up to Henrik Lundqvist (notes) this season.

The Senators were desperately hoping Leclaire would step up to steal the top job, but he allowed at least two or three weak goals.

Rangers centre and Kanata native Todd White (notes) scored twice, both as a result of Leclaire flip-flopping around the crease, losing control of the puck. On White's second goal, he misplayed the puck directly into trouble.

Rangers prospect Derek Stepan (notes) also beat Leclaire with a bad-angle shot from the faceoff circle.

Jesse Winchester's (notes) goal with 5:48 remaining—the fifth time the Senators led in the game—finally gave Ottawa a 6-5 lead. Smith and Kelly completed their hat tricks and iced the game by both scoring into empty nets.

Jarkko Ruutu (notes) also scored for the Senators, while Artem Anisimov (notes) and Mats Zuccarello (notes) also scored for the Rangers.!